Professor Satomi Niwayama, Chemical and Biological Engineering Research Unit at our institution, received the Southwest Region ACS Award on November 8, 2018, at the Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, AR, USA. The award, bestowed annually by the ACS, recognizes an individual who, during a period of residence in the Southwest Region of the ACS, has made meritorious contributions to the advancement of chemistry, chemical engineering, chemical education, either pure or applied, and to the profession in general. Since the first presentation in 1948, the awardees have included a number of distinguished scholars such as a Nobel Laureate and Nobel candidates, recipients of the highest honors and awards from the US such as the National Medal of Science and the Priestly Medal, as well as honors and awards from other countries, chaired professors, and renowned chemists whose accomplishments are cited in textbooks all over the world. Professor Niwayama is the only Japanese individual to have received this award. Before coming to Muroran Institute of Technology, during her residency in the Southwest region of the US as Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University and Associate Professor at Texas Tech University, she developed highly selective and practical desymmetrization reactions of symmetric organic compounds under practical and environmentally benign conditions, allowing industrial application and yielding a US patent. Her findings have also been featured as a cover story in Chemical and Engineering News, a weekly journal by the ACS, as well as in the following link

• Chemical and Engineering News